title: Cancer prevalence in United States, Nordic Countries, Italy, Australia, and France: an analysis of geographic variability.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objectives of this study were to quantitatively assess the geographic heterogeneity of cancer prevalence in selected Western Countries and to explore the associations between its determinants.
  
  
  METHODS
  For 20 cancer sites, 5-year cancer prevalence, incidence, and survival were observed and age standardised for the mid 2000s in the United States, Nordic European Countries, Italy, Australia, and France.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Italy, 5-year crude prevalence for all cancers was 1.9% in men and 1.7% in women, while it was ∼1.5% in all other countries and sexes. After adjustment for the different age distribution of the populations, cancer prevalence in the United States was higher (20% in men and 10% in women) than elsewhere. For all cancers combined, the geographic heterogeneities were limited, though relevant for specific cancers (e.g., prostate, showing >30% higher prevalence in the United States, or lung, showing >50% higher prevalence in USA women than in other countries). For all countries, the correlations between differences of prevalence and differences of incidence were >0.9, while prevalence and survival were less consistently correlated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Geographic differences and magnitude of crude cancer prevalence were more strongly associated with incidence rates, influenced by population ageing, than with survival rates. These estimates will be helpful in allocating appropriate resources.
authors.affiliation: Tuscany Cancer Registry, UO di Epidemiologia Clinica e Descrittiva, Istituto per lo Studio e la Prevenzione Oncologica (ISPO), Via delle Oblate 2, 50141 Florence, Italy. e.crocetti@ispo.toscana.it
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Crocetti
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Angelis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buzzoni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mariotto
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Storm
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colonna
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Serraino
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michiara
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cirilli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iannelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzoleni
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sechi
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sanoja Gonzalez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guzzinati
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Capocaccia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dal Maso
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D015995:Prevalence; D012042:Registries; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology